Bryzgalov sharp as Ducks edge Coyotes

Oct 8, 2006 - 4:51 AM
GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- It's still early in the season,
but the Anaheim Ducks appear to have the luxury of possessing
two quality goaltenders.

Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 34 shots and Teemu Selanne and Dustin
Penner scored power-play goals to propel the Ducks to a 2-1
triumph over the Phoenix Coyotes.

One night after Jean-Sebastien Giguere turned aside 41 shots in
Anaheim's 4-3 win over the Los Angeles Kings, Bryzgalov allowed
just one goal and made numerous saves without giving up
dangerous rebounds.

"The defense made my job easier," Bryzgalov said. "I could
always see the puck and see the shots. It is not a big deal to
face 35 shots. That is not that many scoring chances. To me,
it was not a very tough game tonight."

Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle gave Bryzgalov the start after
Giguere's busy outing against the Kings.

"That was my plan," Carlyle said. "I thought that I would not
be fair to not give Ilya a start with the back-to-back games and
last night giving up 40 shots. It made sense to start him
tonight and give each of them an opportunity. They are 1-A and
1-B."

The Ducks took a 1-0 lead at 2:15 of the first period on
Selanne's power-play tally. The right wing stood at the edge of
the crease and tipped rookie defenseman Shane O'Brien's pass
from the point past goaltender Curtis Joseph.

Anaheim doubled the lead with 2:15 to go in the session, when
Penner skated down the left side and buried the rebound of Corey
Perry's shot.

"I kind of sat back and Perry put a good hard shot on net and it
came right to where the coaching staff wants us to be," Penner
said. "It was an easy goal. Our power play is definitely very
strong. It will intimidate and scare teams."

Phoenix halved the deficit when Zbynek Michalek took a pass from
fellow defenseman Keith Ballard in the slot and one-timed the
puck by Bryzgalov for a power-play goal with eight minutes left
in the second.

Michalek felt his club was doomed by a slow start.

"We have to be ready for the start of the game," he said. "They
got the lead early and we could not get back. They scored two
goals on the power play, and their power play is really
dangerous. We played better the second half of the game. We
had more chances, but we couldn't get anything through."

Phoenix captain Shane Doan did not believe his team was ready to
play from the start.

"If you spot that team two goals, you are going to be in
trouble," Doan said. "We battled back to get the one, but we
couldn't get the equalizer. We were a little bit groggy in the
first period. This year, we have different guys and they have
different guys. It is going to be a different (season) series."